My absurd experiences in North America over the years

The night wind blew from the direction of the cornfield, and the withered yellow stalks rustled in the darkness, just enough to cover Li Fu's almost inaudible footsteps.

He bent over and, taking advantage of the pitch-black night, approached the SUV parked step by step.

This short distance was probably the slowest he had ever walked in his life.

At this moment, he could vaguely see that there were about three people on the other side, two of whom were tall and one was relatively short and stocky, but still at least 1.7 meters tall.

The short, stocky man was carrying something on his shoulder, and he walked with a slight sway.

Li Fu squinted, adjusted his vision, and with the extremely faint light, he could see that it was a burlap sack.

The burlap was a bit brighter than its surroundings in the darkness, and its irregular shape caused the contents inside to sway slightly.

Li Fu guessed that there must be a person inside.

After the three got out of the car, they walked along the dirt road for about thirty meters and the outline of a building appeared in front of them.

The white spires gleamed dimly in the night.

It turned out to be a church.

Li Fu's heart sank.

In fact, he had a premonition that if it really was a cult, it must have an inextricable relationship with priests or pastors.

Those who followed European and American news in their past lives should know that in the next ten or twenty years, a large number of priests and pastors will have their pasts exposed.

The crimes committed, such as raping young girls, are only the most minor evils, some of which would be censored if written down.

The classic film Vice City is only about 70-80% realistic; the rest would probably never pass censorship if it were made into a movie.

The church doors are heavy, dark wood doors with intricate patterns carved on the doorknobs.

At that moment, the door was opened from the inside, and a sliver of darkness seemed to peek through the crack, like a giant, open mouth waiting to swallow something.

Three figures carrying sacks walked in.

The door closed silently behind them.

Li Fu squatted outside the side wall of the church, his back against the cold stone wall.

The wall wasn't very high, only a little over two meters. He took a deep breath and cleanly and neatly climbed over it.

He bent his knees to absorb the force when he landed, without making a sound.

The churchyard is small and paved with gravel.

Li Fu was worried that stepping on the gravel would make noise, so he moved close to the wall, stepping on the muddy ground at the edge of the gravel, and went around to the side of the church.

There was a row of windows there, about chest height.

The windows have old-fashioned wooden frames, and something must have been pasted on the glass, making it impossible to see inside from the outside.

He chose a window that wasn't completely closed and gently pried it open a crack with his fingers.

The window hinges made an extremely faint creaking sound, like a needle dropping to the floor in the quiet night.

Such a subtle sound would go unnoticed.

At most, people would assume it was just a breeze.

Li Fu pressed his eyes against the crack in the window.

The interior of the church was dark, with only a dim yellow light shining above the altar, like a candle that was about to burn out.

The lights projected the cross on the altar onto the wall behind it, making it appear long, like a giant with outstretched arms.

Several figures stood in front of the altar; they were the three he had been following.

The sack was then placed on the ground, its opening loosened, revealing a corner of dark fabric, it was unclear whether it was clothing or something else.

A man dressed in black robes stood opposite them.

The robe was dark black, hanging from the shoulders to the feet, with a white stiff collar peeking out from the neckline; it looked like a priest's attire.

The man in black robes had his back to the window, so his face was not visible. His voice was very low, and because he was quite far away, Li Fu could hardly hear him.

"...The ceremony...next week...the full moon..."

"...Sacrifice...Purification..."

"...Odovia...take her away..."

He could only hear parts of the vocabulary.

Among them, he heard a familiar name.

Odovia?

Li Fu's fingers clenched tightly on the window frame; he had finally found a clue to Thompson's sister.

Unfortunately, it seems they have already been taken away.

At that moment, another voice rang out. It must have been one of the three people. The voice was hoarse and had a heavy southern accent.

"What are your plans regarding this priest?"

The man in black robes was silent for a moment, then raised his voice slightly, "She is... pure... suitable for sacrifice... the gods will like it..."

"Damn it, these bastards," Li Fu felt an urge to go out right now and wipe out all these scumbags.

But he forced himself to hold back.

The enemy situation is currently unclear, so we cannot act rashly.

His body was pressed against the brick surface of the outer wall, motionless, his gaze peering through the window cracks at the blurry figures in front of the altar.

The man in the black robe bent down and gently patted the sack, as if checking the condition of the "things" inside, then straightened up and walked towards the side corridor.

The three men carried the sacks and followed behind him.

The footsteps faded into the distance, disappearing into the depths of the corridor.

Li Fu waited for a while to make sure they wouldn't come back before stepping away from the window.

He retraced his steps, climbed over the wall, and returned to the motel.

He needs to think things through carefully.

The next morning, Li Fu called Thompson to the outskirts of town, and after confirming that no one was around, he prepared to tell him what had happened the night before.

Thompson looked worse than yesterday, with sunken eyes and chapped lips, probably because he hadn't slept all night.

"Mr. Li, why did you suddenly call me to a place like this?" His voice was hoarse, like a piece of iron that had been sanded.

Li Fu looked at him and remained silent for a moment.

"Thompson, don't get agitated after I tell you what's about to happen. Let's figure out a solution slowly."

Thompson's expression changed slightly, and his lips trembled.

He immediately connected it to his sister's disappearance.

Li Fu recounted what he had seen and heard the previous night.

However, he omitted the part related to Odovia, fearing that Thompson would act impulsively and ruin everything if he heard it.

Thompson was stunned after hearing this.

His eyes widened, and his expression shifted from shock to bewilderment, and from bewilderment to disbelief.

"Impossible!" His voice trembled. "Father... Father Crawford... I've been attending services with him since I was a child, how could he..."

"Thompson, you have to understand that some people may seem virtuous, but they are actually treacherous," Li Fu said firmly. "I saw it very clearly last night. I'm sure I heard those words correctly. They must have been words like sacrifice and ritual. And there must have been a person in that sack."

Thompson opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out.

He refused to believe it was true.

However, his boss had no reason to lie to him.

He had been following Li Fu for almost a year, and the other party had treated him well, spending a large sum of money just a few days ago to help him publish a missing person notice.

However, if it was the priest who abducted his sister, then the situation would certainly be dire.

My sister has been missing for over a week.

Li Fu didn't know how to comfort him, so he remained silent.

Thompson turned around, his hands on his knees, his shoulders trembling slightly from the intensity of his emotions.

After a while, he straightened up and wiped his face with his hand.

"I'm going to call the police now," he finally chose to believe Li Fu and accept reality.

"No, we don't have any evidence right now. If we can't find anything in the church, it will only make things worse," Li Fu immediately stopped him.

Besides, he didn't trust the town's sheriff.

"So what can we do?"

Thompson also did not want to place his hopes on the sheriff.

But what can he do when he has no money and no power?

Go home now, grab a gun, and fight to the death?

"I have a plan, but I need your cooperation," Li Fu had already come up with a solution.

"Tell me what to do, and I'll do whatever you say," Thompson immediately replied.

Li Fu's plan was simple.

He asked Thompson to ask Father Crawford to preside over a prayer in the name of praying for his sister.

The time will be this afternoon.

He then sneaked into the priest's room during his prayers to search for evidence.

Thompson nodded. He knew this was the safest method, and as for whether it would succeed, he could only do his best.

He closed his eyes and prayed softly, hoping that God could help him this once.

The two of them acted immediately.

Thompson went back and persuaded his parents to go to the church immediately.

Father Crawford agreed in order to feign kindness and compassion.

At 2 p.m., a lot of people came to the church in St. Clair, including the Thompson family and some neighbors, about twenty people in total.

Father Crawford presided over the prayer with the assistance of two clergy members.

Thompson stood at the church entrance, wearing a clean white shirt and with his hair neatly combed.

However, his eyes would occasionally glance at the priest.

There is a hidden hatred within.

Father Crawford stood before the altar, dressed in a white vestment, with a gentle and compassionate smile on his face.

He was probably in his sixties, with gray hair and deep wrinkles on his face, but his features were soft, like an old photograph whose edges had been smoothed by time.

His voice was deep and resonant, and when he sang hymns, the entire church resonated with it.

Judging by his appearance, no one would ever guess that he is... a beast in human clothing.

"...The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...God, please bless the girls who believe in you..."

Thompson lowered his head, clasped his hands together, and pursed his lips, struggling to control himself from acting impulsively.

His mother was sobbing softly beside him.

……

At that moment, no one noticed that there was an unexpected person in the side corridor of the church.

Li Fu entered the church unnoticed through a small door at the back.

Thompson had told him in advance that the priest's room was located at the end of the second-floor corridor on the left.

He went up the narrow stairs to the second floor.

The door was locked.

However, this did not stump Li Fu. He took out a thin wire from his pocket, bent it, and inserted it into the keyhole.

Opening a regular lock isn't difficult; any locksmith on the street in China can do it, and it's not hard for ordinary people to learn.

It's just a matter of practice makes perfect.

Seven or eight seconds later, the lock cylinder made a slight "click" sound. He immediately slipped inside and closed the door behind him.

The priest's room is roughly equivalent to a large master bedroom, with a large bed that can comfortably accommodate three people. There is also a wardrobe, a desk, and a bookshelf inside.

The bookshelves were filled with theological works and multiple versions of the Bible.

On the desk sat an old Dell desktop computer with a bulky CRT monitor; the screen was still lit, in standby mode.

Li Fu sat down at his desk and moved the mouse.

The computer desktop is very clean, with only a few icons: My Computer, Recycle Bin, a folder named "Sermons", and a blue Internet Explorer icon.

He opened "My Computer" and then locked the hard drive.

There is a folder named "Private" on drive D, which is password protected.

He was prepared; he took a USB flash drive out of his pocket, plugged it into the host's USB port, and the flash drive contained a simple password bypass tool—a technology from the future.

The folder was opened quickly, and the contents made his finger pause on the mouse for a moment.

What comes into view is a large number of photos and videos.

He glanced at the thumbnails briefly; most of them featured young girls.

Some were wearing clothes, some were not.

Some were conscious, while others appeared to be confused.

He randomly clicked on one of the photos, and the screen was filled with a large picture.

It was a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes. In the photo, she was lying on the bed with an unnatural smile on her lips. She was only covered by a thin white sheet, which had slipped down to her waist.

Several bruises are clearly visible on his arm, as if he had been scratched forcefully.

This is exactly the evidence we've been looking for.

Li Fu copied the entire "Private" folder to the USB drive.

The progress bar is moving very slowly, climbing one bar at a time.

The room was quiet, with only the hum of the computer fan and the faint sound of hymns coming from the end of the corridor.

"...Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..."

Li Fu used this time to scan the room, checking every drawer in the desk, wardrobe, and bedside table.

He wanted to find some other evidence, but unfortunately he found nothing.

At this point, the copying was finally complete.

Li Fu unplugged the USB drive, put it in his pocket, closed the folder, and cleared the recent access history.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed that the gap between the back panel and the side panel of the wardrobe was not right; the gap on the left was about one centimeter wider than the gap on the right.

He pushed the clothes in the closet aside and tapped the back panel with his palm.

It was indeed hollow.

The back panel is movable; it can be removed by lifting it up slightly.

A narrow passage then appeared behind it.

At the end of the passage were steps leading downwards, into complete darkness, with air rising from below, carrying a damp, musty smell.

There was even a basement inside the room.

Without hesitation, Li Fu squeezed into the passage and walked down the steps.

The basement is also quite large, measuring fifty or sixty square meters.

A bare incandescent light bulb hung from the ceiling, without a lampshade, casting a stark white light that made the cement dust on the walls appear equally stark white.

There was a small iron bed in the corner, with a thin mattress and wrinkled white sheets.

A girl was lying on the bed.

The girl was about thirteen or fourteen years old. Her brown hair was scattered on the pillow, and her skin was so white that it was almost unnatural.

The girl's eyes were slightly closed, her chest rose and fell gently, and her wrists and ankles were secured to the bed railing with a black nylon cable tie.

Li Fu walked over, squatted down, and looked at the girl's face.

Her eyelashes were long and trembled slightly, like a startled butterfly.

He gently patted the girl's shoulder.

The girl's eyes snapped open, her brown pupils filled with fear and panic, along with an almost instinctive alertness from finally seeing a glimmer of light after being in darkness for so long.

Her mouth was gagged with a black cloth strip, and she could only let out low whimpers like a small animal.

"Shh..." Li Fu put his index finger to his lips and lowered his voice, "Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person, I won't hurt you."

The girl was in tears, the tears silently sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto her pillow.